Ubuntu vs elementary OS

Overview

Ubuntu

Stacks80.4K

Followers59.1K

Votes468

elementary OS

Stacks48

Followers110

Votes26

GitHub Stars1.3K

Forks710

Ubuntu vs elementary OS: What are the differences?

1. **User Interface:** Ubuntu uses the GNOME desktop environment with a modified version called GNOME Shell. In contrast, elementary OS comes with its Pantheon desktop environment, designed to provide a sleek, elegant, and efficient user experience with a focus on simplicity and minimalism.

Software Center: Ubuntu utilizes the Ubuntu Software Center for users to manage and install applications, offering a wide range of software choices. On the other hand, elementary OS features the AppCenter, which emphasizes curated applications tailored for a consistent user experience and a more refined selection of software.
Customization: Ubuntu provides a high level of customization options, allowing users to personalize their desktop environment extensively. In contrast, elementary OS values simplicity and coherence, limiting customization options to maintain a consistent look and feel across the system.
Parent Distribution: Ubuntu is based on Debian and has a large community backing it, offering extensive support and resources. In comparison, elementary OS is based on Ubuntu and has a smaller but dedicated community, focusing on delivering a polished and user-friendly experience.
Pre-installed Applications: Ubuntu comes with a wide range of pre-installed applications, catering to different user needs. As for elementary OS, it offers a selection of essential applications to maintain a clean and uncluttered system, encouraging users to explore and add applications as needed.
System Updates: Ubuntu provides regular updates for system maintenance and security patches, ensuring the stability and security of the system. Meanwhile, elementary OS follows a strict release schedule and focuses on delivering major updates through new releases rather than frequent updates, prioritizing system stability and consistency.

In Summary, Ubuntu and elementary OS differ in user interface design, software management, customization options, community support, pre-installed applications, and update strategies.

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Advice on Ubuntu, elementary OS

Jerome/Zen

Software Engineer

Aug 2, 2020

Decided

Global familiarity, free, widely used, and as a debian distro feels more comfortable when rapidly switching between local macOS and remote command lines.

CentOS does boast quite a few security/stability improvements, however as a RHEL-based distro, differs quite significantly in the command line and suffers from slightly less frequent package updates. (Could be a good or bad thing depending on your use-case and if it is public facing)

271k views271k

Comments

Simon

Developer Advocate at k6 / Load Impact

Mar 7, 2020

Decided

At the moment of the decision, my desktop was the primary place I did work. Due to this, I can't have it blow up on me while I work. While Arch is interesting and powerful, Ubuntu offers (at least for me) a lot more stability and lets me focus on other things than maintaining my own OS installation.

299k views299k

Comments

Govind

Aug 5, 2020

Decided

Ubuntu is much more faster over Windows and helps to get software and other utilities easier and within a short span of time compared to Windows.

Ubuntu helps to get robustness and resiliency over Windows. Ubuntu runs faster than Windows on every computer that I have ever tested. LibreOffice (Ubuntu's default office suite) runs much faster than Microsoft Office on every computer that I have ever tested.

270k views270k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Ubuntu	elementary OS
Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.	It is the flagship distribution to showcase the Pantheon desktop environment. The distribution promotes itself as a “fast, open, and privacy-respecting” replacement to macOS and Windows.
-	Visual Changes in Desktop elements; Terminal; Photos; Night Light Mode; Music; Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet; Mouse and Touchpad Settings; Bluetooth Settings.
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 1.3K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 710
Stacks 80.4K	Stacks 48
Followers 59.1K	Followers 110
Votes 468	Votes 26
Pros & Cons
Pros 230 Free to use 96 Easy setup for testing discord bot 57 Gateway Linux Distro 54 Simple interface 9 Don't need driver installation in most cases Cons 5 Demanding system requirements 4 Adds overhead and unnecessary complexity over Debian 2 Snapd installed by default 1 Systemd	Pros 5 Free to use 4 Stable 4 MacOs like feel 4 Fast 3 Elegant Cons 1 Less customization
Integrations
No integrations available	Nagios Perfect Windows Splash macOS

What are some alternatives to Ubuntu, elementary OS?

Debian

Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel or the FreeBSD kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. FreeBSD is an operating system including a kernel and other software.

Arch Linux

A lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

Fedora

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that provides users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a stable, secure and easy to manage form. Fedora is the largest of many free software creations of the Fedora Project. Because of its predominance, the word "Fedora" is often used interchangeably to mean both the Fedora Project and the Fedora operating system.

Linux Mint

The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.

CentOS

The CentOS Project is a community-driven free software effort focused on delivering a robust open source ecosystem. For users, we offer a consistent manageable platform that suits a wide variety of deployments. For open source communities, we offer a solid, predictable base to build upon, along with extensive resources to build, test, release, and maintain their code.

Linux

A clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.

CoreOS

It is designed for security, consistency, and reliability. Instead of installing packages via yum or apt, it uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. A single service's code and all dependencies are packaged within a container that can be run on one or many machines.

Gentoo Linux

It is a free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need.

Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox.

Manjaro

It is an accessible, friendly, open-source Linux distribution and community. Based on Arch Linux, it provides all the benefits of cutting-edge software combined with a focus on getting started quickly, automated tools to require less manual intervention, and help readily available when needed.

Related Comparisons

Ubuntu vs elementary OS: What are the differences?

Software Center: Ubuntu utilizes the Ubuntu Software Center for users to manage and install applications, offering a wide range of software choices. On the other hand, elementary OS features the AppCenter, which emphasizes curated applications tailored for a consistent user experience and a more refined selection of software.
Customization: Ubuntu provides a high level of customization options, allowing users to personalize their desktop environment extensively. In contrast, elementary OS values simplicity and coherence, limiting customization options to maintain a consistent look and feel across the system.
Parent Distribution: Ubuntu is based on Debian and has a large community backing it, offering extensive support and resources. In comparison, elementary OS is based on Ubuntu and has a smaller but dedicated community, focusing on delivering a polished and user-friendly experience.
Pre-installed Applications: Ubuntu comes with a wide range of pre-installed applications, catering to different user needs. As for elementary OS, it offers a selection of essential applications to maintain a clean and uncluttered system, encouraging users to explore and add applications as needed.
System Updates: Ubuntu provides regular updates for system maintenance and security patches, ensuring the stability and security of the system. Meanwhile, elementary OS follows a strict release schedule and focuses on delivering major updates through new releases rather than frequent updates, prioritizing system stability and consistency.

In Summary, Ubuntu and elementary OS differ in user interface design, software management, customization options, community support, pre-installed applications, and update strategies.

Ubuntu vs elementary OS

Overview